The Russian air defense has said it has destroyed a Ukrainian drone over Moscow. Ukraine launched an attack “with an unmanned aerial vehicle against objects in Moscow and the Moscow region” during the night, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday in the online service Telegram. “The drone changed its trajectory after being fired upon by anti-aircraft guns and crashed into a (…) building in the Krasnopresnenskaya district of Moscow,” the ministry said.
According to the mayor of Moscow, who referred to rescue workers on site, there were no injuries. “The wreckage of the drone fell in the area of the exhibition center and did not cause significant damage to the building,” Sergei Sobyanin told Telegram.
State news agency Tass, citing emergency services, reported that one of the building’s walls had partially collapsed. Tass also reported that the airspace over Moscow Vnukovo International Airport was briefly closed, and departures and arrivals were delayed.
Moscow repeatedly targeted by drones
Drone attacks on Russian territory, especially those targeting Moscow, have been increasing for several weeks. In the past few weeks, two drone attacks have been repelled over a Moscow business district, each causing minor damage to high-rise facades. In May, two drones were shot down near the Kremlin.
In late July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that a “war” was coming to Russia, targeting “symbolic centers and military bases.”
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, a drone attack on ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet south of Sevastopol had already been foiled. Late on Friday evening, “the Ukrainian armed forces made an unsuccessful attempt to attack the ships of the Black Sea Fleet using an unmanned sea drone,” the ministry said in a statement. Sevastopol is the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet on the annexed Crimean Peninsula.
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with AFP
